Panda Licorice – Soft Licorice
I’ve talked a bit before about how Panda is the brand that I feel can get people into actual decent licorice, and not the plastic Twizzlers nonsense that you see everywhere. Sure it’s more expensive but it’s also more natural and just all round tasty. I also mentioned in my other review of the raspberry flavour that it was a good gateway into real licorice, as it combines elements of actual licorice candy and raspberry to give people a way to dip their toes into the molasses based candy.
If the raspberry flavour was the gateway into licorice, then this is the OG, the original, the one and only. This is the classic formula that helped to put Panda, as a brand on the map and expand out of it’s Finnish origins. For the unwary, the big selling point of Panda licorice is that it’s fairly natural, and the classic recipe contains only 5 ingredients – table molasses, wheat flour, cooking molasses, licorice extract and aniseed oil. Now, I may not always care about the ingredients or nutritional value THAT much, but it’s always a plus when something doesn’t have overly complicated ingredients, and has a short, simple list where I can imagine each ingredient, and pronounce each word. Apparently this formula hasn’t changed since 1927, and if that’s the case I can see why they’re still around.
The flavour of this is much stronger in the smoky molasses than the raspberry. This one has a more earthy, smoked flavour to it that hovers between sweet and slightly bitter, something you expect from molasses. That smoky flavour lingers quite a bit, and I’d say as far as licorices go, this one is a more straight forward molasses flavour than herbal. I know some people don’t like black licorice because of that herbal taste, but I enjoy it and kind of wish this had more of that. As is though, if you enjoy the flavour profile of molasses, you’ll love these.
The texture is quite soft, and not as sticky as the raspberry. It’s got nice give when you bite into it, but isn’t too chewy. I think part of what makes these different from other soft licorice is the shape. The beehive pattern reminds me of aerated chocolate, and I feel like a similar thing is going on h ere. The extra air pockets give it more surface area and makes the whole thing feel lighter and slightly “juicier” if that makes sense. All this to say that I find the textural experience quite satisfying.
While I personally prefer a stronger herbal flavour, I can see how that would be a turn off for most people, especially newcomers to the candy. It’s why I think this is the perfect leaping off point for black licorice novices. For the really uninitiated, they can start with one of the fruity flavours, but for the more adventurous, this is the place to start. Regardless, this is enjoyable enough that all roads lead to more licorice, which in my books is always a good thing.
